Gage-tube



(No Model.)

L. M. FLEET.

GAGE TUBE.

No. 265,312. Patented Oct. 3, 1882 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LINDLEY M. FLEET, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GAGE-TUBE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 265,312, dated October3, 1882.

Application filed May .22, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LINDLEY M. FLEET, of Boston, in the county ofSulfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Gage-Tubes, of which the following is a descriptionsufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in theart or science to which said invention appertains to make and use thesame, reference being bad tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which- Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations,andFig. 3 a top View or plan.

Like letters indicate corresponding parts in the different figures ofthe drawings.

My invention relates to that class of gagetubes which are employed inthe gages ofsteamboilers for indicating the height of the water; and itconsist in a novel construction and arrangement of the parts, ashereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, by which a more elfectivedevice of this character is produced than is now in ordinary use.

The extreme simplicity of my improvement renders an elaboratedescription unnecessary.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the tube 5 B, the float, and C(J the guards or retainers.

The tube is composed of glass, which may be of the usual length,diameter, and thickness, and has one-half of its exterior surfaceground, as shown at a a, to form a background for enabling the column ofwater in the gage to be seen more distinctly. The tube is provided witha hollow ball or float, B, preferably composed of colored glass, andpear-shaped in form, as seen in Fig. 2; but the float may be round, ormay be composed of other materials than glass, and have two bulbs, m m,as seen at D in Fig. 1, if preferred, the object of the float being toenable the height of the water in the tube to be instantly determined,even at a considerable distance from the gage.

The guards C G are composed of thin sheet metal and provided withinwardly-projecting flanges d d for preventing the float from passingout of the tube into the fittings of the gage when the water is veryhigh or very low in the same. The body of the guard is bent on such acurve laterally that when it is inserted in the tube it will besustained in position by its spring or expansive action against theinner surface of the tube, the projectingvflange or finger d strikingthe float and preventing it from passing through the guard.

When the double float D is used, as shown in Fig. 1, it-should be soconstructed or weighted as to bring the line of eniersion or water-linespecified.

LINDLEY M. FLEET. WVitnesses:

JAMES M. PALMER, O. A. SHAW.

